


Skipping Leg Day

by BerryBagel



Series: Every Day is Leg Day [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Implied Relationships, Implied spoilers, Myrcella/Gendry is not endgame here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-03 23:37:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17293466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BerryBagel/pseuds/BerryBagel
Summary: Arya and Gendry figure out their feelings for each other.  Gendry tries to figure out if he accidentally hooked up with his half-sister.





	Skipping Leg Day

Saturday is leg day, and leg day always starts with a two mile jog at nine AM,  _ sharp _ .  If Gendry didn't think he'd be able to wake up in time for that, maybe he shouldn't have had so many shots on Friday night.

 

Besides, Arya had at least as many drinks as him, and she feels totally fine.  Gendry probably didn't drink any water before he went to bed. Idiot. Now he's not answering his door and Arya has been waiting in the hallway of his apartment building for like fifteen minutes.

 

Actually, Arya has a pounding headache.  Jogging is going to be hell. Maybe they should reschedule leg day to tomorrow.  But if Arya had to wake up at this ungodly hour, so does Gendry. She slams her fist against the door in synchrony with the thudding in her temples.

 

The door eventually opens and  _ oh, yikes _ , maybe Arya is more hungover than she thought, because is this the wrong apartment?  There's a girl standing in the doorway, looking a little disheveled, but way more forgiving than Arya would have been about being woken up on a Saturday.

 

“Oh, Arya...hey!” The girl says, and shit, yeah, Arya knows her.  Myrcella Baratheon, from school. Sure. She must be one of Gendry’s neighbors.  Arya is about to apologize, but no, this is totally Gendry’s apartment. The number on the door is right, and now that Arya is paying a little more attention, she's pretty sure Myrcella is wearing Gendry’s shirt.

 

“Myrcella...hi.  Is, uh, Gendry here?” Arya asks.

 

“He’s in the shower, I think.” Myrcella says.  “We were going to have breakfast. You could join us?”

 

“That’s all right.  I was going to go for a run.  I try not to eat too much right before I run.  I get indigestion.” Arya says.

 

“Oh.  Okay. Maybe some other time.” Myrcella says, and no, Arya doesn't think that's likely to happen.

 

“Sure.  I'd enjoy that.” Arya says.

 

There's a noise from inside the apartment.

 

“You can tell whoever’s out there that I don't want to hear about the Lord of Light, or whatever the fuck they’re trying to convert-” Gendry stumbles into view.  He's shirtless. That makes sense, since Myrcella is wearing his shirt. “Arya? What are you doing here?”

 

“It's leg day.” Arya reminds him.

 

“I thought Saturday was leg day.” Gendry says.

 

“Today is Saturday.” Arya says.

 

“No...that can't be right, because yesterday was...shit.  Sorry.” Gendry says.

 

They all stand in silence for a moment.

 

“I'm going to go start breakfast.” Myrcella says, backing away.

 

“I told Myrcella we’d make breakfast.” Gendry says.

 

“You told me we’d go jogging.” Arya says.

 

“Do you want to have breakfast with us?” Gendry asks.

 

“No.  I'm going jogging.” Arya says.

 

“Right.  And you get indigestion.  Can we talk about this later?” Gendry asks.

 

“You're not going to be ready for your marathon if you pull stuff like this.” Arya says.

 

Then she goes home and sleeps for an additional three hours.

 

* * *

 

Hot Pie got a job at the new bakery in town, so Arya and Gendry can get discounts on stuff.  The prices are still too expensive for them to want to actually buy anything there. They want to be good friends to Hot Pie, so Arya buys a bagel anyways.  Gendry eats half of it because he’s apparently still hungry, even after breakfast with Myrcella.

 

“What was Myrcella doing at your apartment?” Arya asks.

 

“What do you  _ think _ she was doing?” Gendry asks.  “How do you even know Myrcella?”

 

“She was in my intro psych class last year.  Isn’t she a little young for you?” Arya asks.

 

“She’s nineteen.” Gendry says.  He sounds defensive.

 

“I’m nineteen.” Arya says.

 

“Did I ever say you were too young for me?” Gendry asks.

 

“Yes.” Arya says.

 

“Yeah, but you were probably, like,  _ twelve _ when I said it.”

 

She was thirteen, actually.  But the less that’s said about the crush Arya had on Gendry when she was thirteen, the better.

 

“She doesn’t seem like your type.” Arya says.

 

“Are you kidding?  You  _ saw _ her, right?” Gendry says.

 

Myrcella is really pretty, fair enough.  And as far as Arya remembers, Myrcella got an A in intro psych.  So she’s smart, too. But Myrcella is also a cheerleader, and does student senate, so she’s a people person.  Gendry hates people. Myrcella and Gendry are, therefore, incompatible.

 

* * *

 

Sansa and Jeyne are in the kitchen when Arya gets home again.  Sansa is doing her political science homework with four different-colored gel pens and a pink highlighter.  Jeyne is chewing bubble gum and scrolling through snapchat filters.

 

Arya’s hangover headache is starting up again, so she looks through the fridge.  She’s hungry, because Gendry ate half the bagel. She paid five dollars for that bagel.  If Gendry is going to do things like eat two dollars and fifty cents worth of her bagel, he shouldn’t be fucking random girls from Arya’s intro psych class.

 

Sansa bought Girl Scout cookies.  They’re the lemon ones and not thin mints, which is too bad, but they’ll do in a pinch.  She rips open one of the sleeves and collapses into a chair at the table.

 

“Are those my cookies?” Sansa asks.

 

“You look like hell.” Jeyne says to Arya.

 

“I had to pick her up from the bar at two in the morning.” Sansa says.  “Arya, you can’t eat all of those.”

 

Arya has every intention of eating  _ all of those _ .  “Do you know Myrcella Baratheon?”

 

“Yes.” Sansa says.  Sansa dated Myrcella’s brother for a hot second, back in middle school.  Arya doesn’t remember how they broke up.

 

“Right, so after you picked me up from the bar-” Arya starts.

 

“After I peeled you off the sidewalk outside of the bar, you mean.” Sansa interrupts.

 

“After that, Gendry apparently met Myrcella, and they both went back to his place.” Arya finishes.

 

“Who’s Gendry?” Jeyne asks.  This isn’t really a story for Jeyne.

 

“Big, tall guy.” Sansa explains anyways.  “He’s around here a lot with Arya? I think you’ve met him.”

 

“Oh, sure.  Black hair? I’ve seen him.  Arya’s boyfriend, right?” Jeyne asks.

 

“Wrong.” Says Arya.

 

“Really?  Mind if I get in there, then?” Jeyne asks.

 

“You’ll have to fight Myrcella for him, apparently.” Arya says.

 

Sansa takes the sleeve of cookies away from Arya.  “If you didn’t want him to hook up with someone else, you shouldn’t have told him you weren’t interested.” Sansa says, like the sage source of advice everyone knows she isn’t.  Sansa has had, like, three boyfriends this year. Harry  _ still _ won’t stop calling the house.

 

“I never told him I wasn’t interested.  But I’m not.” Arya says.

 

“When I showed up at the bar, the two of you were standing outside, and you were loudly and belligerently telling him ‘ _ shut up, I’m not interested’ _ .” Sansa does air quotes.

 

Alright, Arya did say that, but it’s way out of context.  Sansa is a political science major and should know the importance of context.

 

“I was saying that because we had just been in the bar, and some guy started hitting on me, okay?  So Gendry steps in and says he's my brother, so the guy better back off. But, like, I've  _ told _ Gendry a million times not to tell people he's my brother.  And we started fighting because he gets an inferiority complex about it every time I tell him not to do that.  Then he starts saying I was just mad because I probably liked the guy at the bar. Which, if you had met this guy, you would understand to be a very insulting statement.  So I was like ‘shut up, I’m not interested _ in the guy in the bar’.”  _ Arya also does air quotes, because two can play at that game. “And that's when you arrived.”

 

Sansa mulls over Arya’s perfectly recounted story.  “If you're not interested, why do you not want him saying he's your brother?” Sansa asks.

 

“You should tell him how you feel.” Jeyne says.

 

Sansa and Jeyne are focusing on the wrong part of this situation.

 

* * *

 

Arya had sort of assumed that Myrcella and Gendry were a one-time thing.  The two of them are so obviously incompatible for long-term interaction. When Gendry says he’s going to the museum with Myrcella, Arya figures that's it for sure.  There's a certain art to the work Gendry does in the auto shop, but no way is he going to enjoy staring at a bunch of paintings.

 

Then, the next week, Gendry says he's going out to dinner with Myrcella, and asks for the name of that fancy Dornish restaurant Sansa likes.  This time, Arya is sure there will be no follow up date. Gendry lives off of canned soup, the thought of him in a fancy restaurant is laughable.

 

Gendry texts her a picture of his outfit before he leaves.  With his hair combed back and a collared shirt on, even Arya has to admit he cleans up nice.

 

_ Did you remember to shower? _ She texts back, but it's a weak roast and she knows it.  Her heart just isn't in it. She wonders if Gendry is going to take his motorcycle to the restaurant, and let Myrcella ride on the back.  She hopes not. She likes being the only person Gendry lets ride on the back of his motorcycle. He always says the motorcycle can't take too much extra weight, but since Arya only weighs a hundred pounds soaking wet, she can come along.  It's an old motorcycle. It's very finicky, and Myrcella probably wouldn't want to ride on it anyways.

 

The restaurant date apparently is a resounding success, and is followed by three more dates, including one that overlaps with monthly movie night.  Arya and Hot Pie have to watch  _ Venom _ on Hot Pie’s laptop because Gendry still has the HDMI cable.  It's not the same watching a movie without Gendry asking stupid questions.  Arya has no one to throw popcorn at. Gendry is really good at catching the pieces of popcorn in his mouth.  Hot Pie misses all the popcorn pieces and then they have to pick popcorn out of the carpet so Sansa won't yell at them when she gets home.

 

“Maybe we should invite Myrcella to next month’s movie night.” Hot Pie says.

 

“I don't think we should do that.” Arya tells him.

 

“Myrcella seems nice.” Hot Pie says.  He's right, she is nice, but it still feels like a betrayal.

 

“If Myrcella and Gendry come to movie night together, they're just going to end up making out on the couch the whole time.  Is that what you want?”

 

“I don't think they'd do that.” Hot Pie says, but he lets the topic drop.

 

Arya is forced to imagine that Gendry and Myrcella have incredible physical chemistry, because she sure can't imagine them having anything to talk about together.  But she tries to imagine the two of them together as infrequently as possible.

 

Gendry arrives in time to catch the very end of the movie.  He sits next to Arya on the couch. He smells sort of like perfume.  Arya doesn't want to think too hard about that.

 

“Myrcella invited me to meet her family next week.” Gendry says, bringing up Myrcella for some unnecessary reason.

 

“That seems serious.” Arya says.

 

“I mean, I think that's just how super rich families do things.” Gendry says.

 

Onscreen, Venom eats some guy’s face.  Arya feels like that's an appropriate metaphor for her feelings about the evening’s progression.

 

* * *

 

It's the day of the big Myrcella Baratheon Family Introduction.  Gendry shows up at Arya’s front door looking distressed. He's wearing a collared shirt.  It's the same one he wore to the restaurant a few weeks ago. Arya is suspicious Gendry only owns one collared shirt.  At least it's a nice color blue. It matches his eyes.

 

Gendry follows Arya into the living room and looks around.  “Is anyone else home?”

 

“Nope, just me.  Sansa bought more Girl Scout cookies, you want some?” Arya asks.

 

“No thanks.” Gendry says, which is how Arya knows something is seriously weird.  “If I tell you something, you've got to promise not to tell anyone.”

 

“Sure, who am I gonna tell, Hot Pie?” Arya says.

 

“Do not tell Hot Pie about this.” Gendry says.

 

“Okay, okay, what happened?”

 

Gendry describes the setting.  He reminds Arya that today was the day of the Myrcella Baratheon Family Introduction.  He had put on his one collared shirt and gone to the given address, which had been a huge house.

 

“Like, even bigger than yours.” he explains.

 

At first, things had gone fine.  Myrcella’s mother was sort of cold towards him, but according to Myrcella, she's just always like that.  Gendry had thought to bring flowers, and Myrcella was happy about that.

 

“Okay, and then what?” Arya prompts.

 

“Then it got weird.  I was just standing there, and someone comes up behind me and slaps my butt.” Gendry says.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“So I turn around, and it's this guy I've never seen before in my life.  And he's like ‘oh shit, sorry, I thought you were my fiancé.’ At which point this  _ other _ guy strolls in, and he looks  _ exactly like me _ .”

 

“Seriously?” Arya asks.

 

“Well, not exactly.  His hair was longer and I think I'm in better shape than him, and-”

 

“Close enough, though.”

 

“Right.  Close enough that it was weird.  And this guy who looks just like me introduces himself as Renly Baratheon, says he's Myrcella’s uncle.  And butt-slap guy, his fiancé, Lucas...or Loras, maybe? He asks me if I'm one of Robert’s kids.”

 

“Robert?” Arya asks.

 

“Robert Baratheon.  Myrcella’s father. Apparently I look just like him when he was younger, and he really got around, back in the 90’s.” Gendry says.

 

“But you aren't, right? You would know if you were related to this guy.”

 

“Maybe not.  My mom never really told me much about my father.  For all I know, he  _ could _ be Robert Baratheon.” Gendry says uncomfortably.

 

“And that would make you and Myrcella…”

 

“Half siblings.”

 

“Oh yikes.” Arya says.  “So you fucked your sister?”

 

“No!  Probably not! We don't know that!” Gendry says.

 

“But you're not going to keep seeing her...right?  You wouldn't want to chance it.”

 

“Myrcella thinks we should take a DNA test.  Like those ancestry things, where you do a cheek swab?  It's probably just a coincidence. Nothing to worry about.”

 

Arya obviously hopes that Gendry did not accidentally fuck his half-sister.  Obviously. If Gendry and Myrcella are happy together, Arya would obviously never hope for anything to get in the way of that.  Obviously.

 

* * *

 

Arya thinks she left her phone charger in Gendry’s apartment.  For that reason and only that reason, she decides to drop by his building on Friday evening.  Now that she thinks about it, yes, Gendry  _ was _ supposed to get back the DNA test results today.  Of course, any curiosity about that is incidental and not at all why she’s visiting.

 

“I don’t think I have your charger” Gendry says, letting Arya in anyways.

 

“Yeah, I found it in my car on the way over here.” Arya admits. “Say, did you get your test results back yet?”

 

Gendry sighs.  He closes the door behind Arya.  “I did.”

 

“Is Robert Baratheon your father?” Arya asks.

 

“Here’s the thing.  He  _ is _ my father-” Gendry starts.

 

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, this kind of thing totally happens all the time.” Arya says.  She spent the ride over here preparing a pep talk for Gendry.

 

“This kind of thing definitely does not happen all the time.”

 

“Well, like, not this situation exactly, but Jon went on a few dates with his aunt last year, before they realized.  She had just bleached her hair, so they didn’t  _ look _ related.  But then Bran looked her up on facebook and they were like ‘ah shit, your dad is her brother’ and that was maybe worse because-”

 

Gendry cuts her off. “I didn’t finish.  He’s my father, but he  _ isn’t _ Myrcella’s father.”

 

“Oh.” Arya says.  Her planned pep talk did not cover this possibility.

 

“Myrcella said she wasn’t surprised.” Gendry says.  Unlike Myrcella, Arya is very surprised.

 

Gendry’s apartment doesn’t have a couch, but it does have a futon the lady across the hall was going to throw out.  Arya sits down on the futon to think. The lady across the hall is in her eighties, so the futon is floral and smells like mothballs.  Gendry sits down next to her. The futon makes a loud creaking noise. He leans his head back against the wall behind them.

 

“So you two can keep seeing each other, then?” Arya asks.  She can’t stop herself.

 

“No, we broke up.  I told her it still seemed weird.” Gendry says.  He doesn’t sound too upset. Arya still feels like it would be bad form to start grinning.  Better just say something vaguely consolatory.

 

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Arya says.

 

“And I mean, it was weird.”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Myrcella says it was only weird because I’m probably in love with you.” Gendry says.

 

Arya laughs.  “That’s dumb. What does she know?”

 

“I think she’s right.” Gendry says.

 

“Oh.” Arya says.

 

* * *

 

“You know what, Arya, you were right.” Hot Pie says.  “There shouldn’t be couples allowed at movie night.”

 

“I never said that.” Arya tells him.  “I said Myrcella shouldn’t be allowed at movie night.  And I’ve changed my mind. You can totally invite Myrcella to movie night.” Arya has been draped across Gendry’s lap for the better part of the evening.  She’s feeling magnanimous.

 

It turns out Gendry  _ didn’t _ have the HDMI cable, so they’re still relegated to watching on Hot Pie’s laptop.  Something else is exploding onscreen. Arya heard this was supposed to be a really good movie.  She’ll rewatch it later.

 

There’s a blanket wrapped around her and Gendry, and Gendry is hogging it.  She gently elbows him in the kidney. He doesn’t give her back the blanket, but he wraps his other arm around her, which is fine for the time being.

  
Hot Pie side-eyes them.  “I swear, if I see you two over there grope each other one more time, I’m gonna go watch  _ Mad Max: Fury Road _ with Lommy instead.”  



End file.
